Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

MoviePass crashes after running out of money

Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY
Published 4:01 p.m. MT July 28, 2018

CLOSE

MoviePass experienced a major service outage, after parent company Helios + Matheson Analytics reportedly ran out of money Thursday.

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2018 file photo, Cassie Langdon holds her MoviePass card outside AMC Indianapolis 17 theatre in Indianapolis. The startup that lets customers watch a movie a day at theaters for just $10 a month, is limiting new customers to just four movies a month. The move comes as customers and industry experts question the sustainability of MoviePass business model. Because MoviePass is paying most theaters the full price of the ticket, the service is in the red with just one or two movies in a month. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File) ORG XMIT: NY110(Photo: DARRON CUMMINGS/AP)

MoviePass experienced a temporary service outage Thursday night and for some users, the app continues to have functionality problems on Friday.

Why? The company ran out of cash.

MoviePass reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday that it borrowed $5 million to pay it's "merchant and fulfillment processors" to correct the service interruption.

The company said in its filing that it is "unable to make required payments," which resulted in Thursday's service interruption.

MoviePass is a service that allows subscribers to pay a flat fee every months to see multiple movies. For $9.95 a month, the service promises that movie fans can see a movie a day, and they can cancel their subscriptions any time.

MoviePass says it has more than 3 million subscribers.

The floundering ticketing app took to Twitter to address the issue. On Thursday afternoon, it tweeted that it is "investigating" the issue and promised updates, but didn't state the cause.

To our subscribers - we are aware an investigating an issue that is preventing users from checking-in to movies this evening. We ask for your patience as we look into this and recommend waiting for further updates before heading to the theater.

Hours later MoviePass updated subscribers, apologizing for the inconvenience and blaming "technical" issues.

We are still experiencing technical issues with our card-based check-in process and we are diligently working to resolve the issue. In the interim e-ticketing is working. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we resolve this issue.